Parents of Bangla survivor granted Indian visa

The UAE-based parents of Bangladeshi national Sabrina Nasrinhuq, who survived the Air India Express flight crash in Mangalore, have been granted visa to travel to India.

"The parents of the girl had approached us for the visa and we have granted the same. They are free to travel to attend to their daughter who is undergoing treatment in Mangalore," Indian ambassador to the UAE, M K Lokesh, told PTI.

Sabrina Nasrinhuq was among eight lucky survivors of the Air India Express flight crash in Mangalore yesterday in which 158 people were killed.

Lokesh expressed his sympathies to the families and friends of those killed and said the mission is doing everything it can to help the victims' kin.

Indian consulate in Dubai was open till midnight last night to make arrangements for the relatives of those killed.

Relatives are leaving for India in batches, Sanjay Verma, India's Consul General in Dubai, said.

He also regretted the grounding of a flight IC 537, which was supposed to leave in the afternoon yesterday, but could not take off because of some technical fault.

"We can understand the anxiety of the relatives but we couldn't do anything about technical difficulties," Verma told PTI.

He said he was busy all day supervising efforts on the ground and coordinating with various authorities in the UAE and India.

Meanwhile, UAE President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan sent a condolence message to his Indian counterpart Pratibha Patel, expressing grief over the loss of lives in yesterday's crash.

Vice President and Prime Minister of UAE and Ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum; and General H H Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces; also condoled the death of 158 people in the Air India Express flight crash, in messages sent to Patil and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz and Kuwait's Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah also expressed their grief in condolence messages sent to Patil and Singh.